Senior Year

The Class of 2008's stint at the University was capped by a busy year that began with justice for the much-maligned Mike Nifong, ended with a disappointing finish for the basketball season and saw the tragic death of one of Duke's own along the way. The initial stage of the Duke lacrosse case came to a close in June, when a North Carolina State Bar Disciplinary Hearing Committee ruled that Nifong, the Durham district attorney, should be disbarred for his role in the case. During the course of the year, Nifong would also spend a night in jail and file for bankruptcy. It would not be the last word on the case. When students returned to the Durham heat, many shed some extra sweat by participating in Duke Bikes, an initiative to promote health and sustainabiilty. The Outpost opened in August below the West Campus Plaza. In August, students in the School of Medicine returned with the news that Dr. Nancy Andrews, former dean for basic sciences and graduate studies at Harvard Medical School, would become their new dean. The Medical Center was also named the seventh-best hospital in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's annual Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals. At the beginning of September, Residence Life and Housing Services announced that Few Quadrangle would close for renovations through Fall 2008. The Few saga would stretch across most of the academic year, reaching its nadir when the resulting housing shortage forced dozens of rising sophomores to take Fall housing assignments on Central Campus. Members of the University community came together on a variety of initiatives aimed at coping with a statewide shortage of water, as a droughlasted throughout much of the year. The fall saw the first of several lacrosse-related lawsuits. In October, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, Trinity '06-wrongly indicted members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team-filed a civil rights suit against the city of Durham and others who allegedly helped prolong false sexual assault allegations against them. In December, the Board of Trustees approved sweeping changes to Duke's financial aid apparatus, increasing the amount of aid given and reducing loans for most students. But the changes, among the first concrete results of the Financial Aid Initiative, would not be felt by the Class of 2008-they will kick in for the 2008-2009 school year. By the beginning of the 2008 and Duke's second semester, students faced more pressing issues than the relentless drought. In the midst of a January crime wave in Durham, engineering graduate student Abhijit Mahato, 29, was shot to death in his home at The Anderson Apartments, just 1.6 miles from West Campus. The Triangle experienced a second tragedy in March when Eve Carson, a senior and student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was found dead. Police later arrested Durham residents Demario Atwater and Laurence Lovette for their involvement in Carson's murder. Lovette, 17, was also charged with Mahato's Jan. 18 shooting. At the semester's start, two groups of plaintiffs-three former lacrosse players in one group, and 38 players and their families in the other-sued the University, Durham, Nifong and others seeking damages. The second case, filed by high-profile attorney Charles Cooper, drew considerable press but was still far from a resolution as the year drew to a close. Plans for the new Central Campus were unveiled in March. The newest version calls for a shift in focus from the current Central Campus area southward toward Campus Drive, Edens Quadrangle and the Nasher Museum of Art. In a less eagerly anticipated move, the West Virginia Mountaineers dispatched the Blue Devils from the NCAA Tournament in the second round, making the Class of 2008 the first in 10 years not to see a Final Four appearance. Captain DeMarcus Nelson, a senior, and the team finished with a 28-6 record. In head coach Joanne P. McCallie's first season, the women's basketball team had an uneven campaign, finishing 25-10 with a third-round exit from the NCAA tournament. Some students waded into international affairs by participating in pro-Tibet and pro-China protests in mid-April. After her high-visibility participation in an April 9 rally, freshman Grace Wang, a Chinese national, experienced threats and retaliation, and her family's home in China was allegedly vandalized. Duke Athletics said goodbye to several longtime members this year. In August, head soccer coach John Rennie retired after his 29th season at the University. Rennie is ranked sixth all-time on the NCAA Division I career win list and brought the school its first national title in any sport when he coached the Blue Devils to a NCAA championship in 1986. Duke also bid farewell to head football coach Ted Roof, who departed Duke with a 6-45 career record after a dismal one-win season. In December, a successor was named: David Cutcliffe, offensive coordinator at Tennessee and former head coach at Ole Miss. In April, Director of Athletics Joe Alleva left for Louisiana State University, where he will be the new athletic director. Alleva served 32 years at Duke, 10 at the helm of the Department of Athletics. His tenure was marked by success in many sports and fundraising, but was marred by a steroids scandal on the baseball team, a boating accident and the lacrosse case. Also in April, associate head basketball coach Johnny Dawkins accepted Stanford's offer to become the Cardinal's head coach.The former Blue Devil standout held the record for most career points until 2006, when it was broken by J.J. Redick. Longtime University PR chief John Burness also announced his departure, effective in June 2008. The senior vice president for public affairs and government relations came to Duke in 1991. Other departures include Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, who will return to teaching, and long-serving University Secretary and Vice President Allison Haltom.